This invention relates generally to cooking appliances, and more specifically to ovens.
Many known ovens include a fan for circulating air within the oven. For example, a typical convection oven includes a convection fan which operates in a single direction to circulate air within the oven during convection cooking. Such air circulation facilitates cooking by causing air to flow over, and to be heated by, the convection cooking element.
Cooking with such one directional fans, however, may result in uneven cooking. Specifically, the air flow path within an oven cooking cavity typically is not dynamic, i.e., does not change during cooking. For example, the fan is securely fixed to a wall of the cooking cavity and hot air from the cooking element typically is directed along a same flow path. As a result, the relative position of food within the cooking cavity with respect to the flow path impacts the evenness of cooking. For example, if a portion of the food is directly in the flow path of air from the convection fan, such food portion may cook more quickly than another portion of the food that is not in the direct air flow path. Uneven cooking can cause variation in browning and a darkening around the edges in baked products.
At least one known oven includes a plurality of fans and by reversing rotation of the fans, the air flow pattern within the oven cooking cavity is altered. Requiring multiple fans, including multiple fan motors for driving the fans, increases the cost of the ovens and may be cost prohibitive.
In one aspect, an oven includes an oven cavity, at least one heat source for supplying energy to the cavity, and an oven controller operationally coupled to the heat source. The oven controller is configured to accept data regarding a number of racks, and control the at least one heat source based upon the accepted data.
In another aspect, an oven includes an oven cavity, at least one heat source for supplying energy to the cavity, and at least one fan assembly for circulating air in the cavity. The fan assembly includes a fan motor, a shaft extending from the motor, and a fan coupled to the shaft. The oven also includes an oven controller operationally coupled to the fan motor. The oven controller is configured to energize the fan motor during a cook cycle, de-energize the fan motor during the cook cycle, and re-energize the fan motor during the cook cycle.
In a still further aspect, a method for controlling at least one heat source of an oven is provided. The method includes receiving data regarding a number of racks and controlling the at least one heat source based upon the received data.